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Supporting Professional Sports
Gazprom Neft plays an active role in supporting the development of sport throughout Russia. The Company has invested in major programmes to promote sporting excellence, improve the facilities and equipment in grassroots sports, and support sports in schools and clubs for children and young people.
As the success of Russia’s sportsmen on the international stage grows, so does the popularity of sport. Gazprom Neft is proud sponsor of a host of leading sports clubs, including footballing side Zenit St. Petersburg and Red Star Belgrade, as well as hockey clubs, Avangard Omsk and SKA.
Zenit Football Club
FC Zenit was founded in May 1925 from the Leningrad Metals Plant football team. Today, Zenit is a leading Russian football club and the only team to have won all of major national trophies, including the USSR Cup, the USSR Championship, the USSR Supercup, the Russian Cup, the Russian Premier League Cup, the Russian Championship and the Russian Supercup, as well as winning two European cups.
Over the last 10 years, the team has achieved truly global success. In 2007, under Dick Advocaat’s management, Zenit, for the second time in its history, secured the Russian Championship trophy. A year later, Zenit won the UEFA Cup and UEFA Supercup for Russia and then, under the tutelage of Luciano Spalletti, the team won two championship titles in a row, the Russian Cup and Supercup, and, most importantly, became a regular contender in Europe’s prestigious tournament, the football Champions League, joining the ranks of the top 20 European football clubs.
However, the club can boast more than just its sporting achievements. Zenit is not just a football club, it is a true symbol of St. Petersburg, reflecting both the cultural and historic values of the city that unite millions of fans. The club reportedly has 12 million supporters across Russia and consulting agencies continually rate Zenit as one of the top 100 most valuable brands in the world of sport.
In Eastern Europe, Zenit stands head and shoulders above the competition in terms of commercial potential, with the club itself generating revenues of $81 million in 2013 through TV rights, merchandise and ticket sales — placing Zenit amongst the leading sports businesses. In total, 12 stores have been opened in St. Petersburg over the last few years. Zenit has also become the first Russian Premier League club to launch its own radio station and club magazine, and the Petrovsky stadium pulls in the largest fan attendances.
In addition, Zenit Football Club has designed an effective approach to developing and implementing partnership programmes. When establishing a collaborative project, the club takes into account the needs and values of its partners, tailoring each proposal to meet the company’s goals and addressing business objectives in different areas.
Before the start of the new season, FC Zenit produced a new club badge depicting the traditional Zenit arrow without the extraneous design details, thus restoring the club’s original historical symbol.
Zenit Football Club (official website)
Avangard Hockey Club
Avangard is a hockey club in the Omsk Region founded over half a century ago. Since the early 1990s the team has been steadily and purposefully gaining momentum. In 1996 the “Hawks” claimed a bronze medal in the Russian league for the first time.
The club’s first bronze medal initiated its long fight for gold, which culminated in the team finally winning the Russian league in 2004 and the European Champions Hockey League in 2005 under head coach Valery Belousov’s leadership. The club also won silver medals in 2001 and 2006 and bronze in 2007. In 2011, Omsk Avangard won the regular Kontinental Hockey League, and lifted the Continental Cup for the first time.
In April 2012, Avangard once again rose to the podium, finishing as silver medallist in the Russian league.
Avangard Hockey Club (official website)
SKA Hockey Club
SKA Hockey Club is St. Petersburg’s major hockey team and one of the oldest hockey clubs in Russia. Founded in 1946, the club participated in the inaugural season of the USSR League. Over the years the club has been home to many world and Olympic champions, Russian hockey champions such as Alexei Kasatonov, Nikolai Drozdetsky, Alexei Gusarov, Evgeny Belosheikin, Svyatoslav Khalizov, Sergei Pushkov, Sergei Shendelev and Maxim Sushinsky.
SKA Hockey Club is currently made up of the SKA first team which plays in the Kontinental Hockey League and the SKA 1946 team, which plays in the Russian Youth League.
The team has enjoyed many successes at home and abroad: SKA became a bronze medallist in the USSR League in 1971 and 1987, and won the Swiss Spengler Cup in 1970, 1971, 1977 and 2010. SKA’s youth teams have also achieved successes internationally, with fourteen of the club’s young stars becoming youth team world champions and ten becoming junior European champions. In the
SKA Hockey Club (official website)
Red Star Football Club
Red Star Belgrade is a football club with an incredible history and is a household name in former Yugoslavia and modern Serbia. Since its foundation in 1945, Red Star FC has won 26 domestic league championships and 23 domestic cups. The club is able to count the Mitropa (Central European Cup) and Danube Cups amongst its European Cup trophies. In 1991, Red Star enjoyed its two greatest successes, winning the Champions Cup and the Intercontinental Cup.
Red Star won the Serbian Cup in the
The club has 4 million fans in Serbia (a large number of Red Star fans also come from outside Serbia), with supporters from every level of society forming a special social group, known as the “Zvezdashi”. The club owns its Red Star stadium, better known to fans as the Marakana.
Red Star won the Serbian League in the
Red Star Football Club (official website)
